All major enterprises (business entities) are currently trying to remain competitive by implementing new information technologies (IT) to help them drive their businesses. These information technologies range from the personal computers (PCs), which are being placed on every employee's desktop, down to their new web servers for providing information to their customers. Many of the requirements of these new technologies require data processing systems with the storage of more and more data.
The development of the data processing systems has begun to focus on the amount of electrical power consumed rather than solely on more traditional aspects such as the volume of data stored, the speed at which operations are completed, or the flexibility of the types of operations which can be performed. The issue of power management is even more critical in larger scale data processing systems such as supercomputers, massively parallel processing systems, server data processing system “farms”, and rack servers.
Each server data processing system module typically includes a separate power supply element and consequently, as the number of modules in a rack server increases, the amount of power consumed can increase disproportionately as compared with a rack server including a smaller number of larger modules. Electrical power consumption in such power-dense rack servers can be so great that a single power input/source, server farm, or data center can be unable to provide sufficient power to operate all modules as needed.
While power management techniques can result in a reduction in the amount of power consumed, they either require explicit user input which may not accurately reflect the power consumption needs of a data processing system affected or operate completely and independently of data processing system power requirements based upon external events. Moreover, such power management techniques provide no manner to coordinate the power consumption of multiple data processing systems, which depend on a single power input or source.
Thus, a need still remains for a data storage system with power management. In view of the ever-increasing need to improve power savings, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.